A fascinating supplement. The Fema Su are a departure from the usual antagonistic role of aliens coming to Earth. Its nice to have some aliens who actually have some positive feelings about us. Their history is fascinating and quite original, and they have a nice mix of powers and abilities to make things interesting. I look forward to using them in my games.

You know, I’m surprised that it took them as long as it did to get here. In a game called “Hot Chicks” that also features space aliens, you’d think that it’d be natural to assume that there’s some sort of race out there that fills the “alien girlfriend” niche. After all, that idea has been around since the era of pulp novels; it’s been showcased in songs, movies, anime, and more. And now, we finally have that idea in the Hot Chicks RPG in the form of Alien Files #2: The Fema Su.

A thirty-page PDF, the second Alien Files product is fairly light fare from the guys at Dakkar. There’s no bookmarks, which I frown on in anything but the very shortest of PDF files, but copy and pasting is still enabled. The artwork is mostly in Dakkar’s signature style of 3D computer graphics, though a few pencil drawings and a traditional illustration do show up. There’s really no nudity here, per se; we do see the Fema Su naked plenty of times, but while they have a humanoid shape, it’s not really the same as seeing a naked human woman.

The Fema Su are a race of aliens who, realizing they’ve hit an “evolutionary dead end” have come to Earth to mingle human DNA into their gene pool to revitalize their race. It’s comic book science to be sure, but who really cares? Almost all female, they pick a man to breed with, shapeshift into whatever form will best get him into bed, and hopefully get pregnant, retreating to their hidden bases to carry the baby to term, and the process starts all over again. There’s no malice involved regarding the humans they pick – they don’t kidnap, force, or otherwise try to do anything harmful to the people they breed with – but they maintain their deception fiercely, since their survival as a race is at stake.

The book spends a fair amount of pages telling us the Fema Su’s history in greater detail, and their current sketch and personal traits, before talking about what this really means for a Hot Chicks game. Basically, while the Fema Su aren’t antagonists (which seems rare in a world where most of the aliens are evil, alongside demons and corrupt humans, among other malign entities), they’re walking adventure hooks. Most of them, for example, know that adventurers are not only great breeding stock, but also a convenient source of help if they need it. One of the pieces of framing fiction deals with a hero who finds the girl he slept with six months ago on his doorstep, needing shelter from the alien hunters chasing her. Add in other possibilities, like finding out the girl you had a fling with had your baby and never told you about it, and the Fema Su can actually lead to some fairly interesting scenarios.

On a more mechanical side of things, the book showcases a few new pieces of Fema Su “technology” – I include the quotes since these aliens are life-shapers, and all of their inventions are biological in nature. We get sample characters sheets for a few Fema Su (and one of their living spaceships), before moving into the GM section. This largely consists of telling us how various groups and organizations think of the Fema Su, and a bunch of adventure hooks.

Alien Files #2: The Fema Su is a surprisingly hands-off supplement for the Hot Chicks RPG, overall. The book gives you a very good idea of who these aliens are, but largely leaves what to do with them in your hands. The adventure possibilities present a good sampling of ways to use them in your game, but beyond that the book really is more concerned with retrofitting them into the game world than how you’ll fit them into your campaign. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if you’re a GM who prefers pre-made encounters and scenarios, you’re out of luck here. Still, if you prefer to make your own adventures, and they involve some shades of gray (without any actual Greys), these might be just what you’re looking for. Whether as damsels to be defended, or deceivers to be defeated, take a look and see what the Fema Su can do for your Hot Chicks game.

This supplement is certainly a departure from the norm in your average RPG system. Traditionally a supplement such as this would contain a bunch of new adversaries, allies, equipment, stats etc and whilst this does indeed have this, it is not it's focus. What I found this supplement to do and do well is enable you in a number of ways to turn the world of your players upside down and give it a good shake, something this entire system is great for.

Typical of this publisher, the writing is easy and fun to read, being well set out and not padded out with a lot of things you don't need.

However, although good value for money it isn't a 'must have', but it does as it was intended, supplementing your game.